CORVALLIS -- A couple weeks before spring practice began, Jake Luton missed a winter conditioning session.
The Oregon State quarterback believed he'd caught a stomach virus that would disappear in a few days. Then his symptoms got "way worse," causing him to lose about 25 pounds over the course of those practices.
"I've never had anything like that before in my life, so it was pretty strange," Luton said.
Strange and frustrating, Luton acknowledges today. But now the junior college transfer is back to full health and ready for the next phase of his audition to win the Beavers' starting job.
"I feel great, and I think the team does, too," Luton said. "We're ready to go."
Luton and doctors never identified his mystery ailment. He took various foods out of his diet in case he had developed an allergy. He underwent tests for more diseases than he can remember. The weight on his 6-foot-7 frame eventually dropped to 205 pounds.
Luton had permission to sit out portions of spring practice if the work became too strenuous, coach Gary Andersen said. Instead, Luton was usually the first signal-caller to take snaps with the starters, flashing the arm strength that propelled him to a record-setting 2016 season at Ventura Community College.
"His mentality through the whole thing, it wasn't, 'Woe is me.'" Andersen said. "It wasn't, 'What's gonna happen next?' It was, 'I'm gonna do what I can to get better and listen to the docs.'
"If you watched him and you knew what he went through in that situation, you would gain a lot of respect for Jake."
Luton's ultimate cure? Time.
Luton said he's felt healthy for the past three or four months, with his weight climbing back up to 235 pounds. That's freed him up this summer to become "100 percent comfortable" with the Beavers' playbook and to work on timing with receivers during player-run sessions. Though he's new to the roster, Luton has had more preseason time with teammates in Corvallis than he did at Ventura, where he took his first game snap less than a month after arriving on campus.
"The chemistry's there," Luton said. "I've been here long enough that it's not an excuse."
Added running back Ryan Nall: "I know that it's tough for him to try to come in and take over the team. But I believe if he's gonna be the guy, then I believe that he's gonna do it well."
Luton will battle Marcus McMaryion and Darell Garretson when the Beavers' starting quarterback derby re-ignites when fall camp opens Tuesday. The Beavers have emphasized running a faster offensive pace and significantly improving at throwing downfield, after ranking near the bottom of the nation in nearly every major passing category in each of the past two seasons.
Luton joined the quarterback mix to immediately challenge for the starting job. And following a strange spring, he will finally compete at full health.
"I don't think there's a lot of technical things that I have left to prove," Luton said. "It's just coming out and being a competitor and trying to take charge."
-- Gina Mizell | @ginamizell